"With all our government was doing with respect to other First Nations — with reconciliation, with recognition, with respect...."
Empty words spoken without meaning. As long as this government or any government still does not acknowledge the error in the wrongful extinction of one of BC's first inhabitants (the Sinixt peoples) those words are nothing more than farting in the wind.
Sinixt people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Legal extinction in CanadaPresently, few Sinixt live in their traditional territory on the `Canadian Side`of the 49th parallel, and those who do live in Vallican, BC in the Slocan Valley, or scattered throughout neighbouring lands in the area now known as British Columbia. They are not recognized by the Canadian Government, and were officially declared "extinct" by that country in 1956 by the Indian Act. When asked about this extinction in 1995, Ron Irwin, then Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, stated that "The Arrow Lakes Band ceased to exist as a band for the purpose of the Indian Act... It does not, however, mean that the Sinixt ceased to exist as a tribal group." (August 9, 1995).[3]
There were more than 250 Sinixt in Washington State at the time the Canadian Government declared the Sinixt extinct,[40] along with other self-identifying Sinixt who had relocated with relatives to the Canadian part of the Okanagan region.[citation needed]
[edit] Land claims in CanadaMembers of Sinixt Nation have contested this extinction, and are taking steps to reclaim their land rights in British Columbia, where about 80% of their ancestral territory lies. Further complicating the question of Canadian territory claimed by the Sinixt is the overlapping claims of Ktunaxa traditional territory. The Ktunaxa Kinbasket Treaty Council is currently negotiating a Treaty with the Canadian Federal Government and the British Columbia Provincial government in the region, particularly the lower Kootenay River valley around Castlegar and Nelson and all lands within the curve of the Columbia as far north as Mica Dam and all of the Slocan Valley.[41][42] In a 1994 presentation to the United Nations, Sinixt Appointed Spokesperson Marilyn James, along with the Official Vallican Heritage Site Caretaker, Robert Watt stated that "Neither our ancestors nor the members of Sinixt Nation have ever relinquished our inherent rights to any individual, any government or any other organization, including other native tribes or native nations.[43]
Similar to the conflicting Ktunaxa land claims territorial claims shown on maps published by the Okanagan Nation Alliance, of which the Colville Tribes is the American-side member, do not show Sinixt territory and rather show the region as part of Okanagan traditional territory.[44]
On July 28, 2008, "directors of the Sinixt Nation Society have filed a lawsuit claiming aboriginal title to Crown land in the Kootenays."[45] Their lawyer David Aaron describes the intent of the action as "asserting a right (for the Sinixt) to be consulted, and to consent to all uses or dispositions of Crown land within that territory," and notes that private lands in the area will not be affected by the claim.[46]
